A Different Pain
by Dorlath
Summary: The Kyuubi never attacked and Naruto's parents are still alive. But life still didn't turn out very pleasant for Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Pain**

As Naruto traveled the streets of Konoha, he couldn't help but notice that the people were giving him 'that look' again. He hated that look. You'd think after all this time they would have gotten over it, but if anything it had just gotten worse.

Konoha's citizens sure must have it easy. It seems they could afford to stop whatever they were doing every time he took a little trip past them just to stare at him. If he was truly fair to them Naruto could understand why they did it, but at this point, he was beyond being fair. He resented them more than a little for how they'd treated him.

Suddenly he heard a voice calling out from some distance behind him "Naruto-sama." Perfect, just what he needed right now. "Naruto-sama" the voice cried out again, much closer this time. Looks like there was no avoiding it, he turned and, as expected, there was Ebisu running up to him.

Coming up alongside him, Ebisu immediately fell into a lecture. "Where have you been? Running off without telling anyone and leaving your parents to worry. Why if I hadn't found you for them there's no telling what they might have done out of their concern for you."

Naruto had to think of a way out of this. He knew if he let him Ebisu could drone on for hours. 'Hmm, I doubt I'll be able to pull of the "help he's threatening to kill me" trick a second time,' he thought. But the look on his face when Ibiki personally came to drag him off had been priceless.

Unable to come up with any more creative solutions at that time, it looked like he'd have to resort to reasoning with Ebisu. Not as if that had ever worked for him before, but he didn't see any other options.

"I just felt like visiting the hospital. I'm fourteen. That's old enough to be a ninja and go on life and death missions. I think I'll be alright if I go outside the house on my own without documenting my plans and submitting an official request beforehand."

As Ebisu's expression suddenly shifted it only took a moment for Naruto to realize his plan had backfired. Yes, there it was. That look. Pity. Ebisu resumed his lecture, although it was clear he was struggling to choose his words carefully. "Be that as it may, none of the village ninja suffer from your ... condition. Now why don't I accompany you to your destination? Then I'll go inform your parents that you're safe."

"Would you actually leave if I said no?" Naruto responded. If the silence weren't evidence enough, Ebisu's near squirming under his gaze made it clear what the answer to that question was. "Fine then, come along if it will make you feel better."

And with that Naruto turned his wheelchair back towards the hospital and continued on his way with Ebisu strolling along beside him.

******

5 Years Ago

Listening quietly at his door Naruto decided his parents were safely asleep. With all the stealth he could muster, he opened his door and began to creep towards the exit to the backyard. Sasuke had actually managed to learn a real jutsu which he showed off to him today. A really cool fire one. Naruto was not about to let his best friend upstage him, but his mother had told him he was too young to be learning something so dangerous. That left him no choice but to try to practice when she was asleep and wouldn't catch him.

Passing his younger sister Keiko's room, he had to wonder if she didn't get off lucky having a nice normal name. Not that Naruto disliked his name, he was actually quite fond of it. It's just that Jiraiya would never let him forget that he'd been named after a character in his book. Jiraiya had, apparently, made the suggestion to his parents that they continue the tradition and name his sister after a character from one of his books. He said he had plenty of female leads to choose from.

For some reason his parents seemed upset by that idea. He didn't understand why. Maybe they were annoyed by Jiraiya talking about it all the time too.

As these thoughts went through his mind, Naruto had made his way outside and over to the pond in their backyard. Going through the hand seals Sasuke had shown him, Naruto decided it was time to start practicing.

******

Hours later, Naruto dragged himself back to the house. He was exhausted, and a little singed in places, but extremely pleased with himself. 'Wait until I show Sasuke that I learned his jutsu in a single night. I'm so awesome they'll have to give me my old man's job in no time at this rate.'

Once again, being as quiet as he could, Naruto snuck back towards his room, passing his sister's open door again. Wait. Open door? 'Wasn't it closed the last time went by,' he wondered. 'Maybe I'm not the only one sneaking around tonight.' Taking a peek inside, Naruto was surprised to discover an adult already in the room. Worried that it might be his father and that he was in risk of getting caught he began to back away, only to quickly notice it was most certainly not his father.

He was too large for that. From his clothing, it was pretty clear he was a ninja, and not from Konoha. If he recalled his Academy lesson correctly, and he wasn't at all certain he did given how much attention he paid them, the ninja was from Iwa. This realization made, Naruto quickly decided on the best course of action. He shouted out a battle cry and charged at the foreign ninja. Said ninja had no trouble at all turning around and grabbing Naruto by the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground.

The Iwa shinobi smiled at his sudden fortune. In fact, he seemed so pleased with himself that he felt compelled to share it with his captive. "What luck. It looks like I get two brats for the price of one tonight. You and your sister will make fine hostages to use against that demon you have for a Hokage."

Naruto realized the situation hadn't gone as he'd hoped it would, but wasn't about to give up. He was the son of the greatest Hokage ever, and future Hokage himself. He wasn't about to get captured by some nameless rock shinobi. Resolution firmed he decided the first thing he needed to do was free himself. Plan made he proceeded to bite the hand that was holding up as hard as he could.

It was obvious the Iwa nin had been caught off guard by this tactic allowing the first step of Naruto's plan to succeed as he involuntarily released him. "You little brat. You'll pay for that. I was going to take two hostages, but I suppose one hostage and an example will work just as well."

Naruto began frantically looking around him for any sharp objects he could use as a weapon. A pity it hadn't occurred to him that such items might be hard to find in a 4-year-old girl's bedroom. While he wasted his precious seconds on this search, the Iwa nin had made more productive use of his time, having completed his jutsu. One that sent a particularly large and nasty looking rock flying at him. Naruto attempted to jump out of the way, but was unable clear himself completely from the path.

The lower half of his body was still slammed against the wall introducing Naruto to a world of pain he had never known before. By this time Keiko had woken up, and seeing what just occurred started screaming as loudly as her small lungs would allow. Satisfied that Naruto was taken care of, the would be kidnapper returned to his original target, but just before he reached the terrified young girl, a yellow flash flew into the room and the Ninja collapsed. One generally does when their throat was just cut by the kunai that was now in the hands his father, the Yondaime Hokage.

His mother, Namikaze Kushina, ran into the room seconds after the killing blow and stared at the scene in shock. She seemed unable to comprehend the current contents of the room. His father, who was marginally more in control of his faculties briefed her on the situation as quickly as he could. Keiko is fine but Naruto needs a doctor now. You stay here with Keiko I'll take care of Naruto. Without even waiting for a response, he shoved the boulder out the way, lifted Naruto as carefully as he could and disappeared in the yellow flash he was so famous for.

******

Minato paced around the waiting room. The waiting was unbearable. 'How could this have happened?' he thought to himself. 'I'll have all the guards doing D class missions for the rest of their lives. That's if I don't execute them.' The scary thing was, he thought he might be serious about that last internal comment. It all depends on how Naruto was he decided.

Kushina was still at home with Keiko. She had sent a message that their daughter was too traumatized to be left with someone else right then, but she wanted to be informed the instant he knew anything.

'What could be taking those doctors so blasted long?' As if his thoughts had summoned him, an old balding doctor walked through the doors and came up to him. Minato wanted nothing more than to grab the doctor and demand to know how Naruto was, but he restrained himself. The doctor seemed nervous enough as it was and scaring him probably wouldn't get him his answers any sooner.

"Hokage-sama," the doctor started, "Naruto's condition is currently stable however ..." as the pause dragged on to uncomfortable length Minato's control fled from him. He stood up and glared at the man, deliberately letting a little killing intent leak out to make the man clear just how fast he wanted the details. "Spit it out already!" he yelled at the doctor who could no longer be called merely nervous.

Giving up any attempt at composure he resumed his prognosis almost rushing through it in a chance to please the irate man in front of him. "Naruto suffered extensive damage to the lower half of his body. Both his legs were badly crushed. In addition the lower portion of his spine was damaged beyond our ability to repair. We're doing everything we can to help him recover, but it is highly unlikely he'll ever have any feeling in his legs. I'm afraid even if Tsunade herself were here your son would never walk again."

Having finished the doctor took a step back and seemed almost prepared for the Hokage to leap at him and disembowel the poor man or something. Minato, however, merely stood there and took a few deep breaths before making a signal with his hand. A nearby Anbu who had been accompanying Minato took note of the sign but seemed to hesitate. Annoyed the Hokage repeated it more forcefully. This time he nodded and took off, taking news to Kushina of what he had just heard.

Now if anyone had to fear bodily harm it was the poor Anbu he had just sent. He hoped his wife wasn't too hard on him. This was the start of one of the worst days in Minato's life. He didn't need to add to it by having to explain to the man's family why his wife had decided his outfit went better with a dozen kunai deeply embedded into it.

******

AN

My first every posted fanfiction. So please be brutal. How else will I learn without criticism?

Oddly enough, I have several other stories, that I've plotted out and planned and started writing, but never seemed to be able to get to the point where I'd be willing to post them. Then today I got this idea I felt compelled to write up. I haven't had too long to get attached to the story so I feel I'll just post it without major revisions or a clear plan of where it's going and at least get some feedback.

Chapter 2 is also written in a rough draft form and is a little longer than chapter 1. Doesn't look like I'm going to have time to proof read it and fix my more obvious mistakes today. But it should be up very soon. Probably tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Present time

Naruto glared at the words in the book as if they were locked in mortal combat. They were quite skilled too. Every attack he made trying to glean some comprehension from them was swiftly dodged. They currently seemed to be retaliating with some sort of headache causing jutsu that in Naruto's opinion deserved to be declared a forbidden technique.

Setting the book down for a moment, Naruto wondered again why he put up with this. In the years since the life changing attack, he had refused to give up hope that he would walk again. When the doctors told him there was simply no way to fix him, he responded that they should make one. And if they didn't he'd do it himself.

And that's what he was attempting to do, if only learning medicine didn't require so much reading. Despite his dislike for such academic pursuits, he was actually very skilled in the field. He'd always had excellent chakra control, which was important for this line of work. And no one was more motivated than he was to excel in it. When he got stuck he plowed his way through on sheer effort and determination.

And for all that hard work the stupid book still gave him no respect for it. He was currently pondering if he would get more enjoyment from slowly burning the book page by page or just destroying it in one big explosion when the door to the small hospital study room he was in opened.

Naruto's mood suddenly brightened as Sakura walked through the door. "I thought I'd find you here, Naruto" she said cheerfully. "Perfect timing Sakura," Naruto responded "I think this book might have a useful technique, but it's written in some kind of strange code."

While she clearly was doubtful the book was coded, she took the book Naruto was thrusting at her and began to look over the section he had it opened to. After reading it for a few moments she looked back at Naruto. "It's not coded at all. These are mostly basic medical terms. I honestly don't know how you've managed to come as far as you have without learning them. It describes a technique for speeding up the cellular metabolism in a localized area to speed the body's natural healing."

Understanding suddenly gripped Naruto. "Well, why didn't it just say so?" Then his face darkened. "Aww, but I already know how to do that. I spent all this time for nothing." After so declaring he casually tossed the book over his shoulder. Sakura quickly grabbed it from the air and gave him an admonishing glare before walking over to the bookshelf and setting it back where it belonged.

"You really know how to do it?" Sakura asked dubiously. "It's a very advanced technique that not many doctors or medic nins can do." "Sure I can" Naruto responded defensively. When Sakura still didn't look convinced he continued with "Here, I'll show you." He grabbed a scalpel from a pouch on his side and slowly drew a long cut on the palm of his left hand. His right hand then began to glow and Sakura looked on in fascination as cut slowly closed up until there was nothing but a thin line of almost healed flesh showing where the cut had been.

Suddenly Sakura became very excited and began to speak rapidly, hardly pausing for breath. "Wow, I can't believe you can do that Naruto. That's so cool. Can you show me how to do that? It's not only good for closing cuts or helping speed broken bones from repairing. It can be used to increase production of white blood cells to help fight off disease, or to cause a body to rapidly produce new blood so the patient can replenish their own lost blood or ... "

Naruto cut her off at this point. "Sakura, Sakura, calm down." Realizing she had been babbling, she had the grace to look embarrassed. "Oops, guess I got a little carried away." Given he had no leg to stand on (in more ways than one) when it came to talking too much, he decided to let the matter drop.

"No problem, Sakura. I'd be happy to help you learn. Do you want me to show you right now?" he queried. Sakura thought for a moment, "hmm... I'm kind of busy today, but if you're free tomorrow around noon I should have all the afternoon to myself."

"All I have to do tomorrow is read more books. Believe me, I'll be happy to have you interrupt me from that for as long as you need. You know where to find me."

"Thanks Naruto. I need to be going now, see you tomorrow then. She waved farewell then left the room." After she was gone, Naruto wheeled over to the bookshelf with a wicked grin on his face.

Suddenly the door opened again and Sakura popped her head inside. "Oh, and if that book is in any way damaged tomorrow, you'll be sharing its fate" she said with a sweetness that sharply contrast the threat her words contained. Then she left again without even waiting for a response.

'Curses,' thought Naruto, how does she do that? He'd been friends with Sakura for about a year now, partially because of their shared interest in medicine. But on Naruto's end, it was more due to the fact that she was one of the few people who treated him as if he was a normal person, and not a cripple who needed to be taken care of. In another lifetime, he might have even fallen for her. But he didn't have time for such distractions. After he fixed himself and became Hokage, then could think about the dating and whatnot.

For now, he had more books to read. His nearly forgotten headache came back with a vengeance just at the thought. It was going to be a long day.

****

Arriving home late Naruto discovered dinner already on the table with his family sitting down to eat. "Just in time Naruto," his mother said, "we were about to start without you." Wheeling over to his spot, Naruto noticed the guest they were apparently having over tonight. "Hey, Naruto." Sasuke said. Fantastic, the person he had been avoiding all week was right here sitting at his table.

"I'm not actually hungry. I'm just going to go to my room" he informed his mother and immediately started making his way there. "Naruto, wait." Sasuke called out from behind him. Ignoring him Naruto continue towards his room and was just opening the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"And what does the great future Hokage want with me?" Naruto asked with as much bitterness as he could put into his voice. "That's not fair" responded Sasuke. "Yeah, well neither is this" said Naruto, while motioning at his chair. "You always said you believed me that I'd cure myself and become Hokage. But first chance you get you grab the fast track to stealing my dream from me." Naruto was in a full blown rant now, mowing over any attempt by Sasuke to get a word in edgewise. "You never believed in me though did you, you just wanted to stay friends with me to brown nose my father so you could convince him to make you his successor."

Finally catching a pause in Naruto's rant, Sasuke took the opportunity to try to defend himself. "You can't honestly believe that. We've been friends for years. I wouldn't do that to you." "Well, what I'm supposed to believe?" Naruto retorted. He noticed that Sasuke looked quiet uncomfortable with this whole conversation. Which was fine with him because he deserved to feel like a heel for what he'd done as far as Naruto was concerned. Training with his father for the purpose of getting his job, doing everything Naruto had always wanted to do.

But Sasuke didn't seem ready to fall on his knees and apologize. The jerk still seemed to think he could convince Naruto he hadn't done anything wrong. "I don't even want the position," Sasuke said while making gestures with his hand that seemed aimed at mollifying Naruto. "I'd be happy to let you have it." Naruto didn't buy this at all. Who wouldn't want to be Hokage? "Then tell my dad you don't want it!" "It's not that simple!" Sasuke yelled, seeming to finally have become fed up with Naruto's accusations.

Reigning in his temper Sasuke dropped his voice to a whisper, and said "Look, I have an explanation for all this, but it's a very important secret to both the village and my clan. I'll tell you about it but let's go into your room where we're less likely to be overheard." This finally got through to Naruto. Like a kid given candy he'd suddenly all but forgotten his anger and was now fully focused on finding out what this important secret was.

Wasting no time, he entered his room and motioned Sasuke in before closing the door. Sasuke went to window and checked to make sure no one was listening from outside. Naruto, meanwhile, felt it necessary to let his growing impatience be known. "What's the secret already?" Sasuke winced at the volume of the question. "Quietly Naruto, I know that's hard for you but this is supposed to be a secret. I'd prefer if the whole village didn't know." Hmph, what did he have to be quiet about? It's not a secret that he's being told a secret is it? Sasuke's the one who needs to be quiet not me.

Sasuke waited as if expecting another outburst, but when none came he started his explanation. "You probably don't know this given you always slept through history lessons, but the village of Konoha was founded primarily by two great clans, the Senju and the Uchiha." Bored already by where this was going Naruto interrupted. "What does that have to with anything? You're supposed to be telling me why you want to steal my job!" Annoyed at the interruption Sasuke seemed to forget his own desire for being discreet and yelled back. "It has everything to do with why, you moron. Just shut up and I'll explain it to you."

Naruto still couldn't see how something that must have happened hundreds of years ago or something had anything to do with what was happening now. Sasuke's plan was probably to bore him to sleep and sneak away or something. Well that wasn't about to work on him. Say what you will about Naruto, but he didn't fall for the same trick three times.

"As I was saying," Sasuke continued, "there have been four Hokages since the founding of the village. And all four of them have been from the Senju clan or their allies. Not one Uchiha has ever been Hokage. Many in my clan felt we were being looked down upon and not given the respect we deserved as co-founders with the Senju. They were even considering trying to take over Konoha with force." Sasuke paused seeming to expect another outburst from Naruto. But Naruto had finally realized the gravity of the situation and was, for once in his life, keeping quiet.

So Sasuke resumed his whispers. "Your father found out about these plans. But was determined to solve the situation without violence. After long negotiations they came to an agreement. Your father would declare me to be his intended successor for the position of Hokage and train me to take over for him."

Naruto was shocked to his core by this revelation. That they had been so close to having Sasuke's family and his family ... trying to kill each other? He could hardly fathom it. He supposed this was just one more thing he'd have to solve in his life. "Fine then. You can pretend you're going to be the next Hokage for now. But right after I fix my legs, I'm going to convince your clan they'll just have to wait until after me to have an Uchiha as Hokage."

Sasuke smirked at that. "You know, if anyone else said that, I wouldn't believe they had a chance of doing either. Let alone both." Putting on his biggest grin Naruto posed as well as he could manage and stated confidently, "I'm not just anyone I'm Namikaze Naruto. And I always keep my word. That's my nindo."

******

After Sasuke left, Naruto sat there a minute contemplating everything he'd just learned. He still couldn't help but feel a little envious of Sasuke, but he realized it was dumb of him to take that out on his friend. He'd just have to look on the bright side. He was sure his dad was teaching some amazing jutsu to Sasuke. He'd just have to get them out of the young Uchiha later. His thoughts were interrupted when a shadow from behind him blocked out the light.

"Nice story kid, but you and your friend really need to learn how to learn a thing or two about not being overheard." Recognizing the voice he turned around and found himself correct. "Jiraiya! When did you get back? Wait, you were spying on me?"

"Just got back today. And I am the number one spy master in Konoha. What do you expect?" Naruto wasn't ready to accept that as reason enough for spying on him. Jiraiya seemed to pick up on that as he quickly moved on to another topic. "So did you finish that move I showed you last time I was here?" Jiraiya's plan worked like a charm as all thoughts of spying quickly fled his mind at chance to brag about how great he was.

"You bet I did. I've been done for over a week. Let me show you." That said he lifted his hand and began to gather chakra only to have his wrist grabbed by Jiraiya. "Not here, you idiot. You don't think your father would be able to sense something like that in his own home? Meet me at the usual place." And with that Jiraiya was out the window and gone.

******

Making his way along a dirt path through the woods, Naruto came to the small clearing he used for his training with Jiraiya. Seeing the man already there he made his way closer. Then, wasting no time, he lifted his hand and continued what he started in his room. Very shortly he had a perfectly formed rasengan sitting in his hand. Grinning wildly he looked up to see what sort of reaction he'd get from his mentor. "Impressive kid, but I still don't see why you insisted on learning that particular move."

Naruto was a little surprised he wasn't being lavished with more praise as he obviously deserved for learning such a high level jutsu. But he decided to answer the question. "Why wouldn't I want to? It's one of my dad's best moves. Who wouldn't want to learn it?"

"Yeah, well tell me kid, how exactly are you going to hit anyone with that?" This caused Naruto to pause trying to puzzle out an answer to the question. "Um ... you know ... I'll just ... uh ... Shut up! I'm going to fix my legs!"

Chuckling at his response Jiraiya suddenly got a very proud look on his face. Bracing himself for the inevitable bout of boasting he wasn't disappointed. "You never think these things through. Fortunately for you, I, the great Jiraiya, have already thought of a solution for you." "Asking them nicely to come closer doesn't count," Naruto responded, somewhat skeptical of what the man would have come up with.

"Quiet brat! My solution is much better than that. The answer is genjutsu. It's not really my strong point, but I found one specifically for you. All it does is simply make the victim think you're staying right where you are. Even as you move around as much as you want. Now, genjutsu is strongest when it shows something the target expects to see in the first place. Normally enemy ninja don't just stand still for long, but no one expects a lot of mobility from you. So you just cast the jutsu, move up to them, form a rasengan, and then wham. Lights out."

Jiraiya was obviously pleased with himself and Naruto felt determined not to let the man think too highly of himself. "If I got right up next to them like that, couldn't I just stab them in the neck with a kunai or something?" Now it was Jiraiya's turn to stumble over himself trying to come up with a response. Being an older and more mature ninja, he could certainly do better than Naruto did.

"Shut up brat! You're the one who wanted to learn the stupid move in the first place! Now do you want to learn the Genjutsu or are we done for the day?"

Worried he might miss out on this opportunity, he decided to go along with Jiraiya's plan. "No, no. I'll learn it. I'm sure it's a great move." Jiraiya seemed to accept that and smiled. "Good now let's get started."

******

Making his way home with Jiraiya, Naruto felt good about the day's practice. His new move could use a little work still, but he had the basics down and would perfect it in no time. When he got there, he was surprised to see both his parents standing outside the front door watching them arrive. "Hey mom. Hey dad. Look who I bumped into." "Naruto, why don't you go to your room," his father said, "we have some important things to discuss with Jiraiya."

Seeing the stern looks on both their faces, he decided against arguing and went inside. Rather than going to his room, however, he made his way to a window some distance away where he thought he could avoid being caught as he peeked out. He saw them there but wasn't able to make out anything they were saying.

'Not a problem.' Naruto thought to himself. He then proceeded to go through some hand seals that Jiraiya had taught him and suddenly was able to hear quite clearly everything they were saying.

"Ebisu stopped by shortly before you." his Mother was saying. "He said he saw you teaching Naruto some kind of genjutsu." Naruto gulped. This was bad. How could they get caught? Wasn't Jiraiya supposed to be some kind of legendary ninja? Shouldn't he have noticed Ebisu? He'd just have to hope them man was better at arguing his case then he was at keeping this secret.

"So what if I was. The kid deserves to know how to defend himself. We've plenty of proof he may have need of that ability already." Way to go Jiraiya! That's telling them. His mother, however didn't look convinced and made her thoughts known.

"You have to understand. We just want what's best for Naruto. He's developed quite a talent for medicine and has a promising future in that direction. I'm very proud of him what he's accomplished there. At first I was glad he was doing something productive rather than falling into depression. But did you know he refuses to learn anything he doesn't think will be useful for healing his legs? 'Cures for diseases? I'm not sick!' That's the sort of thing he tells his teachers."

What was his mother complaining about? He wasn't sick! It made perfect sense. She wasn't finished, however. "I just feel it's time he moved on and gave up on being a ninja. If he'd just apply himself fully, he could make a great doctor and still live a full life. And here I find you've been encouraging him to stay in denial all this time."

Jiraiya didn't look any happier about this than Naruto did and he silently thanked the man that he was willing to stand up for him. "I still think it's his decision to make if he wants to give up on his dream or not."

Naruto's father finally decided to join in on the conversation again. "That may be his decision. But he's our son, and our decision is that we don't want you training him anymore." Naruto was crushed. No! You won't take that from him will you Jiraiya? He's your student he has to listen to what you say, right? Right? But Naruto's hopes were not to be as Jiraiya chose to cave in to his parents' combined pressure. "Fine. But you'll have to be the one to tell him."

'That won't be necessary.' Naruto thought to himself. Not willing to listen to anymore of this, he canceled the jutsu and made his way to his room. Despite his best efforts, he found he just couldn't stop the tears as he slowly wheeled his way there.

******

AN

Here's chapter two. Glad to see a few people at least liked the first chapter. Helped motivate me to get part two up quickly. Don't expect the next chapter as quick as this one. I have some ideas I definitely want to run with but I'm not sure how easily that will translate into a coherent chapter.

* Spoiler Warning * If you don't want to know what I may be planning stop reading here. When I wrote the first chapter, I'd kind of planned on Keiko being used to show Naruto's jealousy of how she gets to live the life he wanted. However, it occurred to me that Sasuke fit the role much better, especially as I prefer not to use original characters if I can avoid them. This leaves her in the role of being there and not being developed as a character at all, something I'm not particularly fond of.

I considered editing her out completely, but that would require rewriting a couple of major scenes that were already finished. And that's the sort of constant revisions and second guessing that kept me from ever posting any of my other works. So I just decided to put it out as is and deal with it later.

I'm not entirely certain what to do with her now. She'd make a good tie in to bring the Hyuugas into the story, being the same age as Hanabi. But I still haven't decided if that's worth developing her character for or if I write her out after all.

One quick preview of something I have decided on. Some of you likely recall that Kabuto has a technique that would be of more than a little interest to Naruto. What would he ask for in exchange for it, and would Naruto be willing to pay?


	3. Chapter 3

Once again Naruto was sitting in his favorite study room in the hospital. He'd been spending all morning moping over the events from yesterday. Because of this he'd managed to completely forget about his plans for today, and so was surprised when Sakura entered.

"Oh, hi Sakura. I was expecting you." As if he'd admit to her he'd forgotten. She could be scary when she was mad. And she got that way over the strangest things. "Just have a seat and we can get started."

Sakura however, did no such thing and instead made her way over to the bookshelf. Naruto began to grow worried as she scanned it. Finding the book she was looking for, and pulling it out she made her way over to Naruto frowning the whole way. "You crushed the base of its spine? Very funny. Don't think that'll get you out of this."

He'd thought it was funny. Maybe Sakura just didn't realize how clever he'd been. "But Sakura, you said if I damaged it, I'd share it's fate. Well, I do. So that's that. Right?"

Sakura's expression shifted, as she apparently noticed Naruto's state. He was somewhat disheveled and despite being in the study room, didn't seem to have anything in front of him to indicate he had been working. "Is something wrong Naruto?" As grateful as Naruto was she'd dropped the subject of the book, he wasn't sure this particular topic was any better. Oh well, it'd be easy enough to use his superb acting skills to get out of this.

"Nothings wrong with me. I'm fine." See problem solved, she's completely convinced I'm in excellent condition right now.

"Is it Sasuke again?" she replied.

Huh, he'd just said he was fine. What did it take to convince her? "No. If you must know we worked things out yesterday. It's just ..." Oops, slipped up a little there hopefully she wouldn't catch that.

"Just what, Naruto?" It seemed she had caught it. Sakura should be an interrogator or something. She must be as good as Ibiki already to catch Naruto like that. Almost anyone would have fallen for his routine. Naruto knew at this point it wasn't worth trying to hide it. Sakura wouldn't give him any peace until he'd told her.

Then again, he could just make something up. There's no way even she could catch him twice in a row. Quickly formulating the perfect story he opened his mouth to start explaining, "The truth Naruto, don't lie to me." only to close it again as she cut him off. How did she do that?

"Fine. It's just that my parents told Jiraiya he can't train me anymore." This was obviously not what Sakura had been expecting to hear.

"Jiraiya has been training you? I assume this wasn't in medical jutsu." At least he'd managed to sneak that arrangement past her. He felt somewhat better knowing she hadn't worked out all his secrets.

"Yeah, he's been training me in all sorts of ninja moves. Like my dad's rasengan." Naruto was grateful he could finally brag about all the cool jutsu he knew to Sakura. Then his face fell. "But I guess that's over. He won't be teaching me anything else. It was supposed to be a secret but Ebisu ratted us out."

Seeing how much this was bothering Naruto, Sakura attempted to cheer him up. "Maybe you could find someone else who could teach you."

Naruto appreciated her effort, really he did, but she just didn't understand. Jiraiya had been his father's teacher. "It just wouldn't be the same" he said, putting his thoughts to words.

Sakura though it over for a few moments before leaning in and whispering conspiratorially. "You know, Jiraiya might not be allowed to teach you anymore. But what if he were to give me some lessons instead. If we didn't happen to notice that you were nearby watching, well I guess you might just overhear our training plans."

Naruto's face quickly made it clear exactly what he thought of that idea. "That's perfect, Sakura! Thank you so much for thinking it up. I'll pay you back for this, I promise. For starters, how about I show you that technique I promised you."

Smiling back Sakura seemed glad to have been able to get him out of his funk. "I'm happy to help, Naruto," she said. Then her eyes took a dangerous gleam "but first, we're going to take this book to the Hospital staff. You're going to apologize for damaging it, and you're going to mean it."

******

Sakura had proved a capable student, and was already performing the skill after just a few hours of lessons. Having said their farewells, Sakura had left. Now that he was free, Naruto thought it would be the perfect time to head down to the public baths to try to locate Jiraiya and inform him about their new plan.

Before he could do so, however, the door opened and a young man walked in. He thought he'd seen him around the hospital before, but didn't have a name to go with the face. The man seemed surprised to see Naruto in there, but decided to do the polite thing and greet him. "You're Naruto right? My name is Kabuto, it's nice to finally meet you. My father is the head of the Konoha Medical Unit, and he speaks quite highly of you."

Naruto preened at the compliment. Good to know someone recognized talent when he saw it. "So what brings you to my little corner of the hospital, Kabuto?"

"I was doing some research," he responded, "I'm studying medicine myself, and I'd heard there was some interesting material in this room. I'm afraid I'm not as advanced as you are, but I'm hoping there's something at my level." Naruto liked this Kabuto guy. It's rare to meet such a friendly and honest person.

"It's amazing how young you started," Kabuto continued "you must have given up so much to putting all that effort into your studies from such an early age."

Naruto scoffed at that, "It's not so bad, well, other than the books and stuff. But I'd give up anything to fix my legs."

Kabuto smiled at that "You shouldn't be so quick to say that Naruto. Some people may want things you wouldn't be willing to give up."

Like what? Thought Naruto, he was having difficulty thinking of what he wouldn't be willing to pay. Maybe if they wanted his arms to fix his legs, but that'd be silly. Who would even ask for something like that? "It's not like it matters," Naruto said, "no one else is able to help me. That's why I'm figuring out how to do it myself."

"You mean no one in Konoha can help you," Kabuto said. Now having Naruto's complete and undivided attention. "there are, however, some very skilled healers in other villages."

"Like who?! Why haven't I heard of this before?!" Naruto asked at a volume that was a bit high even for him. This was huge news to him. He couldn't believe he'd never thought to look outside of Konoha for help.

Despite Naruto's exuberance, Kabuto was able to calmly continue "Well, there is one person I could contact who might be able to help you. But you understand that with you being from Konoha, he won't help you for free. He'll probably demand some ... fairly significant compensation."

Before Naruto could even respond to this the door flew open and in strode his little sister. For an instant, Naruto thought he saw a flash of irritation from Kabuto on being interrupted. But it vanished so quickly he wasn't certain he hadn't imagined it. While Keiko was still surprised from seeing a stranger in the room with her brother Kabuto spoke up once more.

"Just make sure you think carefully over what I've told you Naruto. You'll probably want to keep it to yourself for now too. You wouldn't want anyone to make the decision for you; would you?" And with that, he left, leaving Naruto alone with his sister.

"What was that about?" she asked him. Deciding to take Kabuto's advice about keeping it to himself, he decided to once again employ his acting skills. Sakura may not have fallen for them, but surely he could fool his own little sister couldn't he?

"That was just ... uh ... a fan of mine. Yeah, that's right. He, you know, wanted me to take him on as an apprentice and teach him everything I know and stuff." Naruto mentally patted himself on the back for that little piece of acting skill. Now to watch just sit back and watch his sister gobble up the story.

"Um ... whatever you say Naruto. That's not important anyways." Success! He'd sure pulled the wool over her eyes. He shouldn't feel too proud of himself though. This was his innocent little sister. She probably barely understood the concept of lying. He almost felt bad for tricking her like that.

"I came to see if you'd take me out to Ichiraku Ramen. We haven't spent much time together lately."

As if he'd ever say no to that! "Sure Keiko-chan. We can go ready now if you're ready."

"Thanks nii-san" Keiko replied. She was obviously pleased with his response. Although he was surprised she asked to go to Ichiraku. Ramen wasn't one of her favorite foods. Just goes to show how nice she is that she would pick her brother's favorite place, he supposed.

******

Arriving at has favorite ramen stand, Naruto discovered a young Hyuuga girl who looked to be about his age already sitting there. From behind him he heard his sister talking to him. "Naruto, I forgot I'd promised to return a book to a friend. You go ahead and order, I'll be right back."

When he turned to look at her, all he saw was a log. She must have really been in a hurry to return that book. But back to the ramen, she'd told him to order and he wasn't about to put that off any longer.

******

A short distance away, Keiko popped into place behind some bushes where Hanabi was already crouched down waiting. She was happy the first phase of her plan had gone off so smoothly. Hanabi, however, seemed to be less excited about that fact than she was.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" her friend asked her.

"Sure it is." Keiko replied. "They're perfect for each other. He has enough confidence for the both of them. And if they hit it off and get married, we'll be sisters. Now quiet I don't want to miss anything."

Naruto, meanwhile, had just finished ordering, and during the wait for his food, had decided to strike up a conversation with the girl next to him. "I've never seen you here before. Is this your first time here?"

Hinata looked panicked at the fact she was being spoken to. "Y-Yes Naruto-sama. My sister, Hanabi, brought me here."

"So, you're Hanabi's sister. That would make you, uh ... um ... " Naruto fumbled around obviously trying to recall what her name was.

"It's Hinata, Naruto-sama." Hinata interjected.

"Ah, that's right. But could you drop the sama please Hinata-chan? I get enough of that already."

Hinata seemed to consider that for a few moments. "Alright, Naruto ... kun." She said as if testing the sound.

"Wait, if Hanabi brought you here, then where is she?" Naruto asked.

Hinata looked embarrassed but responded anyways. "After we got here, she informed me she was leaving but that I was to wait here until she told me otherwise."

Keiko elbowed Hanabi at that. "You just ordered her here and then told her to stay put? You're not helping Hinata that way."

Hanabi looked offended and whispered back "Would you prefer I lied to her like you did?"

Lying! She hadn't really lied to him. It was for his own good so that didn't count, right? Realizing she was missing their targets' conversation she hushed Hanabi and went back to listening.

"It's strange that both our sisters ditched us here." Hinata blushed at this, obviously having realized some time ago what their true purpose was. Naruto, on the other hand hadn't quite worked it out yet. "My sister is just returning a book to a friend, though, she'll be right back."

Her brother always was a little dense in some areas. "That's it!" Naruto exclaimed. At least it seemed he'd finally worked it out. "I bet Hanabi was the friend that Keiko needed to return the book to." Or maybe he hadn't she thought, groaning inwardly.

Ramen still not having arrived, and Naruto not being the type to sit in silence, he continued talking to Hinata. "You're not much like your sister, you know."

Hinata looked down dejectedly at this. "I know, I'm pretty pathetic compared to my sister. I-I'm sorry if I'm not what you expected Naruto-kun."

Naruto appeared to be caught completely off guard by this proclamation. "What?! Who says you're pathetic?!"

Hinata seemed to be sinking even deeper into depression. "Well, my father and ..."

Not even letting her finish Naruto interrupted. "What does he know about that? Maybe Hanabi might have a bit more talent than you. I don't know. But that just means you have to work harder. Everyone says I can't be a ninja at all, but I still train hard and I'm going to show them all some day."

'Way to go nii-san' Keiko thought to herself.

Hinata seemed too stunned to say anything at the moment so Naruto started up again. "I know this awesome move of my dad's called the rasengan. I'll teach you how to do it and then there's no way your old man will be able to say those things."

Naruto knew the rasengan?! How did he learn that without Keiko finding out about it? She was going to have a talk with her brother about this one.

"I wouldn't want to waste your time Naruto-kun." Hinata finally managed to squeak out. "I probably wouldn't even be able to learn it."

As Keiko expected of him, Naruto wasn't about to accept that response. "It's not that hard. With enough work anyone can learn it and I'd enjoy helping you train. I'll stop by some time and see if you're free, if that's ok with you."

Hinata blushed even deeper than before at that, but if Naruto noticed he didn't show any sign. "I-I'd like that Naruto-kun."

Any further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Naruto's first two bowls of ramen. Keiko knew there'd be no further worthwhile conversation for quite some time. Directing Hanabi to get Hinata out of there, Keiko started to make her way home all but skipping on the way. She hadn't even graduated from the Academy and already her first mission was a big success.

******

Naruto was annoyed. He'd spent the last few days trying to find some sign of either Jiraiya or Kabuto but couldn't find a trace of either of them. Hopefully, he'd have better luck today. It seemed that his fortune was looking up as he found one of the men he was looking for standing just inside the main entrance of the hospital.

"Good morning, Naruto." Kabuto said cheerfully. "This man here the person I mentioned in our last discussion." Having him pointed out Naruto noticed the tall plain looking man dressed in a Doctor's outfit. Before Naruto could remark Kabuto shushed him. "Let's not make a scene. He's not from this village and it's best if he doesn't have too much attention drawn to him. Now if you'll follow me we can discuss this in private."

After following Kabuto for a short distance, the three of them made their way into one of the hospital's examining rooms where the door was shut behind them. "Have you put much thought into this, Naruto?" Kabuto asked.

"What's there to think about?" Naruto replied. "If he can fix my legs then have him fix my legs."

"It's not that simple Naruto." said Kabuto. "First of all. This procedure is painful and extremely dangerous. I won't lie to you, Naruto, there's a good chance it could kill you."

This caused Naruto to pause, but only for a moment. "Hah, as if some stupid procedure could kill me. I'm not afraid of it." The strange doctor got a big grin on his face at Naruto's response. Apparently he was really looking forward to doing the procedure.

"If that's your decision, Naruto, we can do the first part of the procedure right now." Kabuto informed him. "This part will adjust the chakra in your body in a way that will prepare you for actual healing technique. Are you ready to start?"

Naruto took a few more moments to fully consider the possibility that he could die. Did he really want to risk this? If it went wrong it would devastate his family. Not to mention depriving Konoha of its future greatest Hokage ever. Maybe there was a better way.

No. This is what he'd been after for the last five years. He wasn't going to throw it away now that he was so close. Firming his resolve one last time he looked Kabuto in the eye. "You bet I am!"

Right after saying that, Naruto felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck. Then everything went black. Because of this he wasn't able to see the strange doctor removing his head from where he had just bitten Naruto, or the three tomoe that formed around the bite.

******

When Naruto came to again, he noticed that it was now just him and Kabuto in the room.

"Congratulations, Naruto." Kabuto told him, having noticed Naruto's awakening. "The hard part is over now." Remembering what happened right before he passed out, Naruto reached up to his neck to feel a bandage in place where he held felt the pain coming from. "It may hurt from time to time, but the danger has passed." Kabuto told him.

"What happened to that doctor?" Naruto asked.

"He felt it was better if he didn't stay around longer than necessary. You've been out for a few hours."

"What?!" Naruto cried out. "Then how is he going to finish the procedure?" Thinking of something, Naruto looked down and tried to will his legs to move in case they'd already fixed them while he was out, but nothing happened.

"That brings me to an important issue I'd like to bring up, Naruto." Kabuto said. "If you recall, I told you that this man wouldn't help you for free." Naruto hoped that this wouldn't be too expensive. He'd already spent most of his allowance for the month and he hated asking his parents for more money.

As if reading his thoughts Kabuto continued. "He doesn't want money, Naruto. Before I tell you what he wants, I need to confess something to you. Both that doctor, and myself are from a newly formed village called Otogakure."

"You mean you're a spy?" Naruto asked him astounded by this revelation.

"Yes, I am." Kabuto replied. "Jiraiya is a spy too, Naruto, it doesn't make me a bad person. I promise you I have no ill will towards Konoha. It's just something that ninja villages do." Naruto supposed that made sense. Kabuto had done nothing but help him so why should he doubt him now?

"You see," continued Kabuto, "being a new village we don't have very many skilled ninja. Having another one of your caliber to do missions would be a great help to our village." Naruto was going to object to this and tell him he was no traitor but Kabuto cut him off before he could do so.

"Calm down, Naruto, we're not asking you to join our village permanently. We just want to borrow you for a bit. We're going to have to continue the treatments for a while after we fix your legs anyways. It's necessary for the treatment to become permanent. You can just do a few missions while you stay with us and then you're free to go home when they're finished."

Naruto pondered this. He couldn't remember what the law had to say, but he was pretty sure you weren't allowed to work for another village even part time.

Seeing his hesitation Kabuto decided more should be said. "Of course you're always welcome to decline the offer. I wouldn't hold it against you. This is a major decision."

For some reason Naruto's neck was really starting to hurt. He wanted to refuse the treatment. Tell Kabuto that he'd find his own way to cure himself. But for some reason he was filled with a burning desire to get fixed as soon as possible. Stronger even than any such desire he'd had in the past. He supposed that being so close to actually having a cure just made him want it all the more.

"Fine. I'll do it." Naruto finally said. "But can I at least let my family know that I'm leaving?"

"Of course, Naruto." Kabuto told him kindly. "You can write them a letter. Just make sure not to tell them anything that would let them know where you're going. They might try to stop you if they discovered where you were going."

Naruto supposed that was good enough. So he grabbed a piece of memo paper and a pen that were nearby and began to write out his note. After finishing he showed it to Kabuto. "Is this ok?" Naruto asked him.

After reading the note Kabuto grinned more widely than he'd ever seen him before. "It's perfect Naruto." he commented. "I wouldn't change a word."

Getting back on topic Kabuto began to explain the plan. "An associate of mine will be by shortly to carry you to our village. I'm afraid you're going to have to leave your chair behind. But you won't have use for it much longer anyways."

Naruto didn't like the idea of being carried. But he was fond of the notion of leaving the stupid chair behind and supposed he could put up with being carried just the once.

"Now you just relax here until he arrives and I'll make sure your parents get your note." Kabuto said before exiting the room.

******

Keiko made her way into the hospital. She had been sent there by her mother to bring Naruto some food, seeing as he had missed dinner again. Entering the study her brother always worked in she wasn't at all surprised at the state she found him in. Sitting in his chair with the lights off, asleep. Honestly, he could be so irresponsible.

"Naruto." she called out. "Naruto!" a little louder. Getting no reaction she went up to him and grabbed him to try to shake him awake. When doing so she was surprised to feel something wet on her hand. Walking back to the door she flipped on the light. Looking at her hand and then back at her brother she screamed.

The stuff on her hand was blood. And there were large quantities of it all over her brother's body. She continued screaming, this time at least coherently as she cried for help. Running to her brother she tried to stop the bleeding. But it appeared his blood had long since stopped flowing from the twin cuts on his wrists. Those cuts were likely caused by the scalpel now resting on the floor by his chair. Not seeing how she could find one, she nevertheless desperately searched for a pulse.

Getting nothing she was now completely in a panic. Out of desperation, she searched the room, for something, anything that could help just make this ... not be happening. While doing so her eyes came across a note. On it was simply written:

Dear mom and dad,

I'm writing this rather than telling you

because I know you wouldn't understand.

I'm going on a trip now, but don't worry,

we'll see each other again before you

realize it. And I'll be able to walk then.

Love,

Naruto

*******

AN  
First to clear up any possible confusion. No I did not just kill Naruto. For those who don't know, in episode 51 of the anime or chapter 89 of the manga, Kabuto disguises a corpse as himself to fool Kakashi. He simply made one look like Naruto in this case.

That out of the way, I surprised myself finishing up another chapter so quickly. And longer than the previous two. This story just seems to write itself. And it seems determined to traumatize poor Keiko for life in the process. I now have the rest of the story planned out in my head. If it works out like I plan, there should be two more chapters and an epilogue, so it doesn't look like this will be an epic length tale. This is all subject to change based on my whims, of course.

I appreciate all the reviews. But I'd like to thank SaruXIII in particular for his advice on the formatting. This is exactly the sort of review a novice fanfiction writer, like myself, needs. There may still be some mistakes along that line in this chapter, as it was more than half written when I read his review, but I think I fixed most of them.

Once again, I'm going to tell you not to expect the next chapter so quickly this time. I think I might even mean it this time.


	4. Chapter 4

The funeral took place two days later. Minato was sure most of the village would have come to pay their respects if they'd had a public funeral. But they'd decided on a small private ceremony with only close friends and family. Especially as they didn't want the exact nature of his death to become public knowledge. Officially it was a freak accident that killed Naruto. He could do that much at least for the sake of his son's memory.

His predecessor, the Sandaime, was currently giving the eulogy. He caught bits and pieces of his speech. Something about struggling with burdens and a bit about giving more than he took. He was sure it was beautiful, Sarutobi had always been a great orator, but he just couldn't bring himself to really listen to it.

The eulogy, eventually came to a close, and then it was time to mingle again. He saw Keiko resolutely making her way over to him. It occurred to Minato that with all the time he spent investigating the event, and then preparing for the funeral, he hadn't had time to have a real talk with his daughter since Naruto ... was found. And after what she must have went through he hadn't even been there for her. It seems he just couldn't stop failing his children.

"Naruto didn't kill himself. He was murdered." she declared. The poor girl was in denial and he felt another pang of guilt that he hadn't been there to help her cope.

"Keiko, you know that we investigated that possibility as thoroughly as we could." he told her. "Our best forensic experts tell us there was no sign of a struggle. And I've been assured the note is completely legitimate, without the slightest hint of forgery."

"That doesn't matter. Nii-san was the bravest person I know. He'd never do anything so cowardly." she insisted.

Of course she didn't know what they'd done to him or he doubted she'd come to the same conclusion. He dreaded the thought of her finding out. Would she ever be able to forgive them? Sakura had seemed angry at him when he'd greeted her earlier, leading him to suspect she knew something of their actions. But would his daughter react like that? Would he have to live the rest of his life with one child dead and the other hating him?

Kushina had been taking it even worse than him. She had walled herself up in their room and refused to eat or do much of anything to take care of herself. It was all he could do to get her to clean up some and attend the funeral. But it was obvious to everyone else that the last couple of days had taken their toll on her body.

"Even if that's true," he finally responded, "we don't have any clues about who could have done it. I oversaw the investigation myself. We need something to go with or there's nothing more we can do." Not seeming at all pleased with his answer she stormed off to somewhere else. After she was gone it occurred to Minato that he probably shouldn't have let their discussion end like that. Just another example of him not realizing these things until it was too late.

******

Keiko knew her brother wouldn't have killed himself. She probably understood him better than anyone. And one thing that was clear about him was that he _knew_ he would cure himself. He was as certain of that fact as that the sun would rise in the morning. What possible reason would have to become so depressed when his condition was just temporary?

Well, if her father didn't want to help her she'd just have to figure this out herself. She was not going to let her brother's killer go free. Trying to calm herself, Keiko decided to think back over the last few days. Was there any strange behavior coming from Naruto? She couldn't think of any odd behavior. Well, odd for Naruto that was.

Maybe Hinata had developed some sort of psychotic obsession with him and decided to kill him for some insane reason? No, that was a bit far-fetched and the girl seemed genuinely devastated by the news according to Hanabi. Thinking back on the day she'd arranged their meeting, she suddenly realized there was one odd event that stood out.

This bears looking into.

******

Later that day Keiko came up to the door of a small hospital room where, Kabuto, as she had discovered his name was, supposedly spent most of his time. Knocking on it, she had to wait only moments before the man she was looking for opened the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Not even waiting for an invite, she brushed past him into the room and watched as Kabuto closed the door behind her. "Yes, I have a few questions for you concerning Naruto."

"I'm sorry for your loss, it was a terribly tragedy." Kabuto told her, while making a very convincing showing of being genuinely concerned. He was good. "I'd be happy to help in any way I can, but I'm afraid there's not much of value I can tell you. We'd only met on a couple of occasions so I barely knew him."

"Your father tells me you'd disappeared for a about a day, returning on the very day of Naruto's death. Then you vanished again the day after." Keiko informed him. "We talked a lot about you. For example, I never knew that you weren't originally native to this village." Watching closely for any kind of reaction she was disappointed that she didn't see one.

"Yes, I've been very involved in a project recently and sometimes simply stay here overnight rather than return home." Kabuto replied. "It's not the first time I've done that. I'm not sure exactly what this has to do with Naruto."

"Fine then, let's talk about Naruto." Keiko told him, deciding to approach this from another angle. "I remember you speaking to him about some sort of decision he had to make. What decision was that?"

"My father is one of Naruto's teachers. I was simply relaying a message to him that he had a choice as to what field of medicine he wanted to focus on next." Kabuto replied.

"That's interesting," said Keiko "because he told me the decision was on whether he would take an internship with one of the hospital's doctors."

Not stumbling for a second Kabuto answered immediately. "We had discussed that possibility as well, briefly. I could see how he would have been confused about what I was referring to."

She smiled to herself at his response. No matter how smooth he was, she had just caught him. "Actually, he didn't tell me anything of the sort. I just made that up."

Despite the brilliance of her trap, Kabuto simply refused to give anything away. Instead he simply sighed and told her. "I hadn't wanted to tell you, as it was a very personal matter. However, I suppose you deserve to know, given the circumstances. If you come over here I have something that will clear this matter up."

Keiko had her first inkling of doubt at that. Maybe she'd gotten the wrong person. She'd been so sure too. As she walked over to him she suddenly noticed his hand, holding some sort of sharp object racing towards her. It was coming way faster than she could react. She couldn't believe how stupid she'd been to come here alone.

Then, faster than her eyes could follow, a blur ran past her. The next thing she knew, she heard a loud crash. When her eyes caught up with the motion, she found Jiraiya standing there. Kabuto was now lying on the floor completely motionless. There was a large hole in the wall where she presumed Kabuto's head had impacted.

"I agreed with you about your brother, kiddo." Jiraiya told her. "And as you seemed to have some sort of idea of what might be going on, I decided to follow you around. That was some fine work too. I may just have to offer you a job in my network."

Her mind finally getting over the shock of her near death, it began to process the situation again. "You slammed his head into a wall?" She asked incredulously. "That was the best you could think of? How are we supposed to get any information out him if you've killed him?"

"Shut up." He responded. "I just saved your life and this is the thanks I get? Your whole family is a bunch of ingrates. It's in the blood, I swear."

Further conversation was interrupted as the door flew open. Sasuke stood there, kunai in hand. "Don't move Kabu ... to." What started off as a yell, died down midway as he took in the state of the room.

"Nice of you to join us, Sasuke." Jiraiya told him glibly. "But I'm afraid you're a little late for the party."

******

Minato paced around the living room of his house. Who would have ever thought that news their son was murdered could be such a relief to their family. He felt a little guilty that he could have any joy brought to him by that fact. His wife had already improved dramatically upon hearing the news. She had eaten her first real meal in days, and that alone seemed to fill her with energy again.

The whole family had come together with the new goal of justice against the person or persons responsible for the murder of their loved one. Ibiki was currently dealing with Kabuto. He was confident the man would get the names of anyone else who was involved and the purpose behind the plot.

Minato had wanted to be there with Ibiki, personally assisting in the extraction of that information, but he was afraid he would be too easily provoked into killing the man before they got it.

Stopping his pacing to check the clock again he swore to himself. What was taking Ibiki so long? For how much they paid the man, he sure was taking his time with this interrogation. Not thinking of anything better to do he went back to pacing.

"Minato, dear," Kushina told him, with the hint of an edge in her voice, "you're not helping anyone with your pacing. I know that you're way behind on your paperwork if you can't find anything better to do."

Groaning at the thought, Minato was saved from that particular fate by a cry of "Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" This came from a masked Anbu who had just run up to him. "Kabuto has talked. Naruto may be alive!" He informed him.

"What?!" yelled Minato, leaping up immediately and seizing the man by the front of the vest he practically flooded the room with killing intent. The man better hope he had some real evidence. If he had raised their hopes just to pass on whatever lies Kabuto felt like spouting, the only way he'd be leaving this room was on a stretcher or in a body bag.

Expecting his wife to reprimand him again, he saw her instead taking up a flanking position behind the man, as if to stop him should he try to escape. The man, however, was a battle-hardened elite of their village. Not someone easily intimidated by an overly emotional superior.

Really, his knees were barely shaking at all and you could easily overlook the slight quiver in his voice as he resumed his report. "Kabuto said that the corpse wasn't Naruto. He used some strange jutsu to alter it to appear to be him. We had our top medic nins examine it again. They said that knowing what to look for, they were able to confirm that it is not in fact Naruto."

Minato let go of the ninja at that. He was absolutely stunned beyond belief. His wife seemed to be taking it about as well as he was, now leaning against the wall for support and already openly weeping at the news.

"Where's nii-san now?" his daughter yelled out from behind him.

"Kabuto claims that he works for Orochimaru. They, apparently, tricked him into going with them by promising to cure him." That means ... Naruto was really just planning to go on a trip to fix his legs? Only his son could make a simple letter look like a suicide note.

Not wanting to waste any more time he barked his orders to the man. "Assemble two ANBU squads I'll be leading a rescue mission myself."

"And I'm going with you." Kushina declared.

"You two are going nowhere." Said a third voice which Minato swiftly identified as belonging to Jiraiya. "Orochimaru has spies all over this village. They would certainly take note of one or both of you disappearing. If he found out he'd been discovered, he could move Naruto. Or worse."

Minato tried to protest again, he couldn't stand the thought of just sitting around doing nothing for Naruto any longer. Jiraiya, however, wouldn't listen to him. His teacher had always been too stubborn.

"You don't have a choice in this." He told Minato. "They still haven't gotten Naruto's location out of Kabuto, but I know where he is. I've been getting reports of an unusual amount of activity from one of Orochimaru's bases near the border these last few days. But I didn't know why that would be. Until now that is. I'll take team 7 with me, it's far less suspicious for them to be leaving than two squads of ANBU and I've always been known to come and go as I please."

Minato still wasn't entirely happy with the arrangement, but he didn't see what else he could do. "Very well." he said. "Assemble them and leave immediately."

"And if you don't bring nii-san back safely, don't bother coming back at all." Keiko told him.

Wasting no more time Jiraiya was out the window, mumbling something about no respect as he left.

******

AN

Team 7 will be Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba for those who are wondering.

My fast writing pace has continued for yet another chapter, even if this one is a little shorter than the last two. It occurred to me, that I have yet to give any description, whatsoever for Keiko. You've probably noticed that my largest weakness as an author is a lack of truly fleshing out the environment. But not even describing my own OC is inexcusable so I apologize for that oversight.

It's not likely to be anything worth rereading for. It's probably going to be little more than telling you she takes after her mother in looks. I picture her in long, dark, hair, done up in a ponytail without the spikiness of her father or older brother. I admit to hardly even giving a thought as to the type of clothing she wears. As I've said this is somewhat of a weakness of mine.

Next, I just felt like discussing, briefly, what motivated this story. I've noticed a lot of stories seem to revolve around making life as pleasant for Naruto as possible. I understand different people enjoy different stories, so I won't attack the authors who do that. As for myself, however, I've always felt the trials and tribulations the characters go through make the story far more interesting. So I decided to take a very common AU premise, but then turn it in a completely different direction from where it usually goes. And this is the result.

It's starting to look silly to keep saying at this point, but I suppose it's a good luck charm if nothing else so here it goes. Don't expect the next chapter to come out as quickly as these ones did. It should be the climax if the story if things stay as planned.


	5. Chapter 5

The members of Team 7 made their way through the forest as fast as the group could manage as they followed behind Jiraiya. As fate would have it, Kakashi had already been out of the village on a mission. Sasuke and his teammates, Sakura and Kiba, however, had been roused from their slumbers and the three of them had quickly prepared and departed from the village. Jiraiya had, so far, adamantly refused to tell them what their mission was.

Kiba, seemed to only just become awake enough to even be aware of the fact he wasn't at home in bed anymore. "What sort of mission is this that we have to do it at this time of night?" Kiba said. Pausing briefly he appeared to be considering something. "And who are you?" he added. Sasuke groaned at his teammate's ignorance.

"I'm the great Jiraiya-sama." he responded. This seemed to suitably impress the young Inuzuka much to Jiraiya's delight. "I suppose there's not much risk of being overheard out here." Pausing to look around he then continued, "This is an S class mission to rescue Namikaze Naruto."

Sasuke tripped as he landed on the next branch, barely catching himself before falling completely. Sakura had come to a stop as well, if a bit more gracefully than him. Naruto was alive?!

It was Kiba, however, who found his voice first, pausing alongside Jiraiya to wait on their dumbstruck companions. "You mean the cripple? Isn't he supposed to be dead?" This earned him three very sharp glares. "What?" He asked, looking very uncomfortable at suddenly finding himself the center of attention. "He is one, you know. A cripple that is."

The three of them collectively decided to ignore his lack of tact for now and began making their way through the woods again. Meanwhile, Jiraiya continued his briefing.

"His death was faked. We know he's been taken captive by Orochimaru and are headed to the facility where he's being held. It is unknown how many enemy ninja will be present and there is a good chance Orochimaru himself will be there. Should that be true, I'll keep him busy, and you three will be responsible for finding and rescuing Naruto."

Sasuke nodded his understanding of the mission parameters. Secretly he hoped Orochimaru would be there. He wanted the man to pay for what he had done.

******

Sasuke and Sakura had increased their pace after learning the nature of their mission. Kiba had been hard pressed to keep up but was too stubborn to admit he was having trouble. To the boys credit, he managed to never fall far enough behind from where he was 'guarding their rear' to lose them completely. Akamaru, on the other hand, had no trouble keeping up. And Sasuke was no expert at reading dogs, but he could have sworn the large canine was amused by his human partner's struggles.

Finally the group came to their destination. It appeared to be little more than a shack in the middle of a small clearing, but they had already been briefed that most of the compound was underground. As quickly as they could, while still being cautious of traps, the group entered the door and made their way down a few flights of stairs.

When they reached the bottom, it opened into a large chamber, and there stood Orochimaru, as if waiting for them. "Jiraiya!" he greeted with mock warmness. "So good to see you again. It's been so long. You should have told me you were coming."

"Cut the false pleasantries." Jiraiya responded clearly not interested in the snake man's games. "You know we're here for Naruto. So let us have him and I might let you live."

"Naruto?" asked Orochimaru. "Oh, you mean the young Namikaze boy. Yes, he'd made such an interesting test subject. It's a pity he didn't survive the experiments." Sasuke growled at the man's obvious baiting of them. Then, deciding to carry out the plan they'd come up with, he motioned Sakura and Kiba to follow him. The three of them ran towards a hallway off to the right intent on beginning their search for Naruto.

As he neared the entrance he saw Orochimaru's tongue stretching to ridiculous length and racing towards him. But before it reached him a large stream of fire from Jiraiya forced the tongue to alter its course away from him. Silently thanking the man he reached the hallway and began his search.

******

It didn't make any sense. They'd been navigating corridors and searching rooms for 10 minutes now and had yet to run into a single person since they'd left Orochimaru. Surely the man wouldn't have built this place simply as a summer home. Maybe there was another exit and they'd already escaped with Naruto.

Sasuke didn't have time to pursue that line of thinking any longer as they'd just entered a fairly large room. In the center of that room they discovered Naruto standing in the middle. Wait? Standing?! Activating his sharingan Sasuke confirmed that it wasn't any sort of illusion, then relaxed and let his eyes return to normal.

"Congratulations, Naruto. You really did it didn't you?" He was genuinely happy for his friend, but he still couldn't help but worry. This was all turning out to be too easy.

"Do you have any issues moving them, Naruto?" Sakura asked from next to him.

"Hey guys." Naruto said cheerfully. "They work great, Sakura. Watch." Naruto decided to demonstrate by running around the room. The effect, however, was someone ruined by him tripping over his own feet after barely two steps. The end result was an impressive impact involving his face and the floor.

Quickly getting back up, Naruto attempted to salvage what he could of his pride. "Heh heh, guess I still have to practice a bit more. My legs are longer than I was used to, that's all."

Reassured that this was actually Naruto, Sasuke decided that they shouldn't waste anymore time. "We've come to get you out of here."

Naruto actually seemed surprised by this. Had he thought they'd just stopped by for tea? "What? I can't go back now. I made a deal and I'm not going back on it." Naruto said petulantly. Figures Naruto was going to be difficult about this.

"You are aware, that the man in charge of this place is Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked him. "You know, the notorious traitor? Experimented on Konoha citizens? Killed a bunch of our ninja and ran off? Ringing any bells?"

Judging from the look on Naruto's face, he hadn't a clue who his benefactor was, prior to Sasuke telling him. He'd always been good at reading Naruto, and it looked like his friend was ready to see reason. But before that could happen, Naruto seemed to wince in pain and moved his hand up to some sort of bandage on his neck. His face suddenly darkened in anger.

"You're just saying that to trick me into coming back." Naruto yelled at him. "You don't want me to finish my treatments, because you know that if I'm cured you won't get to be the next Hokage." Sasuke would wager anything his friend's sudden change in attitude was related to whatever was done to warrant that bandage on his neck. What was he talking about with the treatments though? His legs seemed fine to Sasuke.

"I'm taking you back one way or the other. Don't make this any harder on yourself than it needs to be." Sasuke informed him. Not that he expected that to actually work, whether he was being influence or not, there was only one way Naruto would respond to that.

"Hah, I'd like to see you try and take me by force." Naruto said. Sasuke wouldn't have even needed his sharingan had he any desire that have say those words in sync with his friend.

"You've been able to walk again, for what? Two days?" Sasuke said, making a show of trying to reason with him one last time. Didn't want to leave Sakura any room to claim he hadn't tried. "You said yourself you still need more practice. You wouldn't stand a chance against me."

But Naruto was not to be dissuaded. "That's what you think. But I've got this great new jutsu that's going to blow you away." He began going through some seals Sasuke didn't recognize. Sasuke braced himself for whatever it was Naruto was charging up for. Finishing the seals, Naruto released has chakra and then ... nothing.

Naruto got a very frustrated look on his face. It figures he couldn't bothered to wait until he'd actually learned a move to try using it in combat.

"That doesn't count." Naruto said. Then quickly recovering he switched to something else. "This is even better anyways. Wait until you get a look at this," he said proudly before forming a rasengan in his hand.

Admittedly, Sasuke was actually impressed by that, but it wouldn't be enough. Smirking he formed his own rasengan. He carefully regulated how much power he was putting into it. Fe didn't want to hurt his friend. Much. "Nice try, but don't forget that your father has been training me."

Sasuke had been expecting Naruto to charge right at him, but instead saw him just standing there. He realized Naruto probably didn't want a repeat of his earlier fall. Sasuke knew he should use that to his advantage and beat him from ranged, but Naruto had all but challenged him. Sasuke wouldn't settle for less now than showing him up in this rasengan vs rasengan match.

Charging in at his top speed Sasuke easily saw through Naruto's attempt to strike him and ducked under the attack. Then he sent his own rasengan holding arm into Naruto's chest. Only to realize a moment later it had actually gone _into_ his chest. There'd been no resistance whatsoever and his arm was now jutting through the middle of his friend's torso.

Smirking at him, Naruto brought his own arm down into Sasuke's side. He felt a sudden wrenching sensation before being hurled into a wall hard enough to daze him. What just happened? That couldn't have been a bunshin, it would have disappeared when he'd struck him. Besides that, the attack was definitely real.

And what was Sakura doing? She was now standing a few feet to Naruto's right looking directly at Sasuke. She went through a few hand signs, and then simply said. "Good night, Naruto." Suddenly the Naruto he had been looking at vanished, while another popped up standing right in front of Sakura.

"How does she do that?" Naruto asked, before collapsing to the floor asleep.

"His first jutsu didn't fail." Sakura informed him. Genjutsu! Sasuke realized. And he'd fallen for it. He felt like such a fool. Standing up, he tested his condition. He was a little shook up but it looked as if he'd avoided any serious injuries.

"Kiba, grab the idiot and let's get out of here." Sakura ordered him.

"Why do I have to carry him?" Kiba whined.

"Because you haven't done anything to help yet." She responded looking annoyed at having to argue the point.

Kiba, however, was never one to let risk of personal harm interfere with getting the last word. "Yeah, and getting himself beaten up was such a huge help." he quipped. Sasuke bristled at this, not enjoying his recent embarrassment being pointed out. The dog boy would pay for that one later.

"There's no need to argue. None of you will be taking him anywhere." Sasuke turned towards this new voice to discover a large man. He was hunched over so you could see little of his features beneath his hat and the strange black, cloud covered robe he was wearing. Sakura jumped back reflexively at seeing the newcomer so close to her. All three of the Konoha chuunin then got themselves into a battle stance.

"My name is Sasori." He informed them. "And isn't it a bit rude to treat me like this after I went and took care of all the guards for you?" This was bad. Sasuke recognized the name and realized they now had a second S class ninja to contend with. It did explain why things had been so easy up till now, but he had no idea what the man wanted with them.

"I have no intention of fighting you." The missing nin said. None of them relaxed an iota at that, knowing better than to take his word for that.

"You see, Orochimaru used to be a member of the same organization I am." Sasori continued. Deciding to ignore their hostility. "The fact that he isn't anymore is a bit of a problem, as we don't exactly allow our members to just quit. I simply took advantage of your little assault as a distraction to break in here. The trip has already been quite productive, but I'd like to use this opportunity to finish the traitor off once and for all."

"If that's the case, shouldn't you be helping Jiraiya fight him rather than standing around talking with us?" Sakura asked him.

"You really think that snake hasn't filled his own base with secret escape routes?" Sasori queried. "If he knew I was here, he wouldn't stick around to let me finish him. That's we're you three come in."

"I know we're good," Kiba said proudly, "but you can't seriously expect us to be much help against an S class ninja."

"But I have just the jutsu for you to use against him." Sasori told them. "It's from your own village, interestingly enough. An associate of mine made me aware of this technique just recently. It's a forbidden skill that will summon a shinigami to devour the soul of the target. The best part is, the target can't even see the summon until it's too late."

"If this jutsu is so effective why don't you just use it yourself?" Sasuke asked, still not willing to believe anything the man told them.

"Simple," Sasori replied, "it's surprisingly easy to perform, but it does require a large quantity of chakra powering it. If I were to use it myself, Orochimaru would sense that I was here and be gone before I even finished it. He will not, however, be on his guard against you."

Pausing to look them over Sasori decided to give them some additional motivation. "Might I also remind you, that if you value your friend's life, you don't have a choice in the matter."

It galled Sasuke, but he was right. What else could they do but go along with him?

"I'll do it" called out Kiba. If I take out an S class ninja, they'll have no choice but to promote me to jounin. The idiot seemed almost happy about the situation.

"No." Sasuke stated authoritatively. "If the move requires a large chakra output, I have the best chance of performing it successfully." Kiba didn't look pleased with this, but thankfully decided not to argue the point.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement about this." Sasori said, tossing a scroll to Sasuke. "Those are the hand seals. Just put as much chakra as you can into the technique as you go through them. It's really as simple as that.

Somehow, Sasuke doubted it would be.

******

Jiraiya knew his old teammate was just toying with him. But he was holding back as well and the whole situation suited him just fine. His goal was merely to stall for time, and the fight would most likely be over very quickly if the two of them got serious. Unfortunately, he wasn't at all certain he would be the victor in that clash.

He was currently fighting his way through several large snakes Orochimaru had summoned, when Sasuke appeared back from where they had left. "Where are Naruto and the rest of your team?" Jiraiya demanded to know of him, worried about what would cause him to return alone.

"Sakura and Kiba are still looking for Naruto." the boy replied. "I thought I'd come help you beat some answers out of the snake."

Wasting no time the boy powered up a rasengan and charged at Orochimaru. Swearing at his recklessness, Jiraiya made his way to stop the poor fool, only to be knocked away by one of the snakes he had just been fighting. Finishing the thing off quickly he was worried now that he wouldn't be in time to save the young Uchiha. So he was unprepared when the scream he heard, came not from Sasuke but from Orochimaru.

"What are you doing?!" Orochimaru screamed. He seemed to be frozen in place with Sasuke standing about a foot in front him. Then, seeming to look over Sasuke his eyes widened in terror. "No! You can't have it!"

At a loss for what was going on, Jiraiya was uncertain as to whether or not he should interfere. It didn't make any sense. Unless ... no it couldn't be. Could it? Charging himself up with natural energy, Jiraiya's features began to take on a decidedly toad like appearance. With his extra connection to everything around him, a large shape suddenly became visible to him.

"What have you done, Sasuke?!" Jiraiya yelled in his shock. Where had the boy even learned the technique? Running his mind through any possible ways he could save him from the one major drawback to that jutsu, he could only think of one thing that might work.

Charging at the stationary pair, the shinigami once again vanished from his sight as he burned off what little natural energy he'd been able to gather. Reaching them, he slammed his fist into the side of Sasuke's head, knocking the boy out cold. He then leaped to where the young chuunin had been rocketed by the blow.

It seemed the first part of his gamble had paid off as Orochimaru was released from his paralysis. "Go!" he yelled at his former teammate. "Or do you want that thing to get you?" Taking Jiraiya's advice, he vanished.

Quickly gathering more natural energy, he was frustrated to see the shinigami had not vanished, and was instead turning to face them. Jiraiya put up his strongest barrier. He had no idea if it would have any effect on the thing. But he had no idea how fast it could move either, and if he ran he'd lose his ability to see what it was doing.

"Orochimaru got away. You can't have Sasuke's soul." Jiraiya told the shinigami. If the thing understood what he was saying it gave no sign of that as it moved closer to the pair of Konoha ninja and slammed a fist into the barrier. The impact put a huge strain on Jiraiya but, thankfully, it proved capable of stopping the attack. It wouldn't last long against that sort of assault, however.

"The contract is a soul for a soul." Jiraiya yelled, only to have another fist slam into the barrier. "You don't provide the service, you don't get the payment" he told the thing, still desperate for any possible solution. The shinigami's fist hit the shield a third time, and Jiraiya decided he'd have to attempt to flee if the thing didn't stop soon. He estimated he could only withstand another 2-3 of those blows.

The summon, however, backed up, opened its mouth, and let off some sort of unearthly wail that seemed to touch off some deep instinctive fear in Jiraiya. Stealing himself for whatever the shinigami was about to do, he was surprised when, instead of a new attack, it just vanished. Jiraiya checked to make sure that he was, indeed, still channeling natural energy.

Still afraid that it might reappear at any moment, Jiraiya remained motionless, maintaining the barrier for a full minute before he finally relaxed enough to drop the barrier. Seeing a figure pop into view, for a split second, Jiraiya thought the shinigami had simply been waiting for that moment. He quickly realized the figure was much too small for that.

The figure, he realized, was none other than Akasuna no Sasori. The missing nin was currently holding an unconscious Naruto in his hands. Suddenly the pieces began to fall into place for Jiraiya.

"I should kill him." Sasori casually remarked causing Jiraiya to tense up. "Seeing as Sasuke failed to live up to his end of the bargain. Luckily for you, I'd much rather hunt down your teammate before he gets away than fight you over the fate of a boy who is no concern of mine."

Sasori then dropped Naruto unceremoniously on the floor and vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared.

******

Sasuke had been awakened by Jiraiya then helped gather up the rest of his team. They were now making their way through the woods and back to Konoha. Naruto was draped over Jiraiya's shoulder still unconscious. Sasuke was still a little shaken up having recently been informed of the fate he had narrowly avoided.

He promised himself he'd be slightly more forgiving of the man's hobbies in thanks for saving him from having his soul devoured. That should make them even right?

Deciding they were finally far enough away from the base, Jiraiya called a stop in order to examine Naruto more closely. "That must have been some sleep jutsu you used for him to still be out cold after all this." Jiraiya told Sakura in one of his rare moments of praise for someone other than himself.

"Actually," Sakura informed him, "the jutsu would have worn off after just a minute or two. He's been sleeping naturally since before you even got him back from Sasori."

'Why am I not surprised?' thought Sasuke. He'd never met anyone as hard to wake as his blond friend. Remembering back to his encounter with Naruto, Sasuke walked up to him and removed the bandage that was on his neck. Underneath he saw some sort of strange seal.

"I should have known," said Jiraiya.

"What's it do?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"Orochimaru uses it to, among other things, influence the minds of those wearing it."

"Can't you remove it?" Sakura queried, sounding even more concerned now. Sasuke couldn't blame her and wasn't the least bit comforted by the fact that he had been right about Naruto being manipulated.

"It's too dangerous." Jiraiya responded. "Removing it could kill him. However, being a seal master, it's a simple matter for me to seal it within another seal and thus prevent it from functioning."

Jiraiya paused as if waiting for accolades in response to his declaration. When his inactivity stretched too long it began to wear on Sasuke's patience. "How about we congratulate you on sealing it after you've actually done it?" he irately asked. "If that's alright with you that is."

Grumbling a bit to himself, Jiraiya proceeded to do so. After finishing the procedure, they resumed their trip back to Konoha.

This was going to be one mission report Sasuke would actually enjoy writing up. Well, he might gloss over a couple of his less glorious moments, but the end result of the mission was a huge success.

Naruto meanwhile continued to sleep through the trip. Still blissfully unaware that he had been rescued.

******

AN

Well, that's it for the story. I will be posting an epilogue with whatever scenes I feel inspired to add to tie things up. But don't expect anything exciting to happen.

As for my final thoughts on the story, there's certainly a lot I could have done better. I could have fleshed the story quite a bit in place, and there were certainly scenes that didn't flow as well as others.

However, I'm happy for it for what it was. A quick story I was able to just put together and get out. One that covered an angle I'd wanted to explore. I do think it came about as well as I could hope for given its been 5 days since I first even thought up the notion for this story.

I begin to wonder if I might not be more suited to this seat of my pants style of writing. Maybe I should use this story as a baseline and just try to improve my writing from here. I certainly seemed to enjoy it more than trying to plan everything out and then revise it to perfection before releasing. With that method, in the end I always give up before I get it to where I'm happy with it.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully, I can get another story up for you before long.


	6. Epilogue part 1

Naruto sat in his hospital bed quietly contemplating the situation. He was definitely not sulking. After waking up in Konoha, he'd found himself subject to an uncomfortably thorough medical examination. The doctors had finally left him alone, and shortly thereafter Sasuke and Sakura had come in to visit.

They had just finished briefing him on the events that had occurred after Sakura used that sleep jutsu on him. She'd only gotten away with it because he hadn't expected her to interfere with a man-to-man fight. One which he was doing awesome in he might add. He was certain she'd never have been able to take him out if he'd been expecting her to fight. Not that he dared tell her that.

But back to the reason for his sulk ... er contemplating. "I still wish you'd just waited until the treatments were over." He told his friends. "I would have come back my own."

While it was a concern, he wasn't as worried about that fact as he might have been. He had gotten a pretty good look at what Kabuto did for that first treatment, and older ninja had even been nice enough to answer a few questions on it. Naruto was pretty sure he could work out how to do it himself if given enough time. Should his legs start to give him trouble, he figured he could just start the first treatment over again. Although it would be a pain having to do that all the time it was something he could live with.

It was the treatments after the first that he hadn't been able to figure out. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear the man who was giving him those treatments had just been swirling chakra around his hands and not actually doing anything. Just goes to show how subtle and advanced the technique must be.

"About that, Naruto," Sakura told him. "the medic nins examined the area of your former injury very closely. They were unable to find any signs of degradation in the area occurring. In fact there's nothing to indicate that your body ever had anything wrong with it at all."

That was that kind of news Naruto liked to hear, his mood making a sudden recovery. Although, wouldn't that mean ... "Wait. Kabuto lied to me?" Naruto asked incredulously.

For some reason Sasuke was groaning at that and he could have sworn Sakura looked embarrassed for him. "Let me get this straight." Sasuke said. "It hadn't occurred to you, that a known spy, who worked for the most infamous traitor in Konoha's history, might have lied to you?"

"But he was so nice." Naruto responded. He still found it hard to believe that the newly imprisoned medic nin would have lied to him. Maybe he'd been tricked by Orochimaru too.

A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Why isn't my family here?" he asked.

Sakura decided to field that one. "Well, as soon as we got back to the village, we sent one of the chuunin, who was guarding the gate, to tell your family you were back. When he got there, he found all three of them passed out from exhaustion in your living room. The poor guy was too afraid to actually wake them up."

"So is anyone going to get them?" Naruto interrupted.

"I'm getting there, Naruto, if you'd just let me talk" Sakura answered. "By the time he'd found where we'd gone, a lot of time passed. So none of ninja in the hospital wanted to be the one to go and explain to the Hokage why they'd waited so long to wake him. Jiraiya finally got tired of their bickering and went himself. So in short, they should be here any time."

Any time just happened to be that moment, as his father came rushing through the door. "Naruto!" he yelled. "You really are alive!"

His old man ran over to the bed seeming ready to engulf him in a hug. He then stopped himself as if worried about hurting Naruto. He had to deal with the man fretting over him and asking nonstop questions about his health for the next couple of minutes. He was being far more emotional than he needed to be in Naruto's opinion.

He was finally rescued from his father's worrying by his sister bursting into the door. "Nii-san!" she cried out. Showing none of the concern his father had over possible injuries, she jumped right on top of him where he was sitting up in his bed squeezing him into a hug.

"Jiraiya said your legs work again. He's telling the truth right?" she asked still not wanting to release her grip on him.

"He sure is." Naruto responded, then started kicking his legs in the bed a bit to prove his claim.

"That's great nii-san!" Keiko told him. "Now we train together and I can show you my favorite spots in the forest and go swimming and ..."

Whatever else it was they could do now was cut off by their mother, who had just come in the door. "Keiko! Get off your brother," she scolded, "he's been through a lot."

Getting down Keiko walked directly up to their father and gave him a solid kick in the shin. "That's for leaving me behind, you jerk." His dad obviously wasn't going to be hurt by a blow of that level, but tried to look suitably chastised to avoid any further outbursts.

Keiko also managed to avoid being berated by their mother again as she'd been preoccupied with engulfing him in a hug. If Naruto had to guess he'd say she was making a contest of whether she could crush him to death before he drowned from her tears.

"Mom! Mom! I'm fine. Really." he told her, hoping to get her to calm down a bit. Thankfully, he did get relief when she released him and stood up.

"I know," she said tearfully, "you just have no idea how much it means for me to see you again."

"What are you guys all so worked up about anyways?" Naruto asked, honestly confused by their behavior. "I've only been gone a few days, and I left you a note and everything."

He could have sworn his mother actually looked angry with him at that. "Yes, we're going to have a little talk about that note later." she told him. Then her expression softened again. "But for now we're just happy to see you."

So they did get the note, Naruto realized happily. If Kabuto was such a liar, why did he actually give them the note when he didn't have to? Wanting to point that out to Sasuke, he realized that he and Sakura had snuck out sometime earlier to give the family time alone together.

Naruto would just tell him later. He looked forward to giving his argument which he was certain would stump his friend, proving Naruto right. For now he'd just enjoy some family time.

******

AN

I've got two more scenes already planned out to include in the epilogue. But I realized there's no particular reason I can't break the epilogue into multiple parts. Besides, I think this makes a much more fulfilling stopping point until I can put in the rest of the epilogue. And seeing as I probably won't be doing that today, I felt I'd get this out now for those who'd rather not wait.


	7. Epilogue part 2 final part

Naruto was enjoying having his first home cooked meal since he'd left. His whole family was seated at the table. As was Sasuke, who was joining them again. Most of the serious matters had been covered in the hospital, so they'd been using the time to just have normal small talk and enjoy each other's company.

"Naruto," his mother said, "I really think you should consider continuing your medical studies."

"What for?" asked Naruto. "Now that I'm cured, I can spend my time learning cooler things."

"Is there something wrong with being a medic nin?" his mother asked. "Sakura is a medic nin, and so is Tsunade of the sannin."

"Yeah, but they're girls." Naruto replied as if this answered everything. Suddenly he felt something land his lap. Looking at it, he found it to be his sister's bowl of miso soup. Very hot miso soup Naruto concluded as he jumped up from his chair and began to dance around trying to get it off him.

"Oops," Keiko said, not sounding at all like she was actually sorry, "I guess my hand slipped."

When things had calmed down a bit and Naruto had returned to his chair, his father continued the previous line of conversation. "You know, a Hokage should be skilled in as many areas as possible. Medical knowledge could only help you if you really want to try for the position."

Naruto supposed that would true, but if he stopped learning medicine couldn't he just learn something even better instead?

His father, however, wasn't done yet. "And what if something happened to you again." Naruto balked at the thought. Sure that Iwa nin had gotten a lucky hit in when he was nine, but there was no way he'd let something like that happen again. His father, however, quickly continued, "Or if not you, maybe one of us, or one of your friends. Wouldn't you want to be able to help them?"

Now that was a situation he could believe. He could certainly see Sasuke getting himself hurt on a mission, and it would be great to be able to help him. Then he could rub it in Sasuke's nose that he owed Naruto. Besides he'd kind of wanted to figure out Kabuto's healing jutsu anyways. He already had some ideas for how to use it that could be useful even in combat.

"I suppose I can still spend a little time on it." Naruto admitted.

"Great." Naruto's mother said happily. "I'm glad that's settled."

Naruto got the distinct impression from his mother, that the time he'd be spending on medicine wouldn't be very little at all.

"By the way," Sasuke said, changing the subject, "you never did tell me how you plan to overcome that little problem in the way of you becoming the next Hokage."

"Don't worry," Naruto assured his friend, "I already have a plan."

"Considering your plan to fix your legs involved getting yourself kidnapped and making everyone think you were dead, I can't wait to see how this plan will go." Sasuke told him in what Naruto considered his jerk tone of voice.

"That wasn't my fault." Naruto said defensively. "And I'll have you know it's a great plan."

******

One week later:

Naruto stood at the Uchiha complex admiring his handiwork. It had involved a lot of planning, and he'd been up all night, but he didn't think there was a house left in the place that wasn't defaced, booby trapped, or, more often, both. Some doors were glued shut, many were set to drop a wide variety of different substances on those who left them. Very few of which would be considered pleasant to have all over oneself.

The chaos was just beginning to start as people started their daily routines. A couple young chuunin, who were apparently early risers, had spotted him and decided to give chase. He didn't understand why they would assume he did it. Well, maybe it was how prominently he was featured in the graffiti, usually with descriptions of how great he was. But anyone could have done that, right?

One of the chuunin following along behind him looked like he'd gotten one of the maple syrup traps. The other looked to be more lucky and was simply wet. Naruto was really enjoying the chase. He could do this all day just to enjoy the feeling of running again. But he couldn't let himself get distracted.

Almost there. Slow down a bit and let them think they're catching up. Turn here. A little leap and, success! The two irate ninja suddenly found themselves falling, courtesy of a pit trap Naruto had prepared for just this sort of situation.

"And there's more where this came from until you agree that I'm going to be the next Hokage." Naruto yelled at them before turning around to leave. His exit was halted by him running face first into a tall figure who had been standing right behind him.

Looking up he greeted the man. "Hey, Itachi. Nice day isn't it?"

The older Ninja didn't seem to be enjoying that fact all. "My brother speaks of you a lot." Itachi said. "It appears you've been a good friend to him for a long time."

"That's right." Naruto replied. "We're great buddies. In fact, I was just going to see him. So if you'll just let me by ..."

Itachi, however, made no effort to move. "Sasuke would prefer that you were the next Hokage over having the job himself." Itachi told him. "And I'm convinced that you wouldn't treat our clan unfairly. As such, I'm informing you that I will be supporting you in your goal to succeed your father."

"That's great! Thanks Itachi." Naruto told him cheerfully. Itachi finally decided to let him by, so Naruto began to make his way out before anyone else caught up to him. And Sasuke hadn't thought he could come up with a good idea. He'd only had to do this once, and already he had the heir to the clan's support. He figured just a couple more times, and he'd have most of the clan behind him.

"One more thing, Naruto." he heard Itachi say from behind him. "If you ever do this again. I'll kill you."

"Good one," Naruto laughed, "I can see where Sasuke gets his sense of humor from." Looking back at the man, however, he saw no traces of humor on his face. Suddenly, Naruto decided he should think of another way to convince the clan. It's not that he was afraid of Itachi. He wasn't scared of anyone. It's just that, he thought it would be rude to do this again after Itachi had just offered his support, that's all.

He was sure the next plan he would think of would be even better. And if that didn't work, he'd think of another, and another, and another, until one of them finally worked. One thing Naruto was certain of, however, he would definitely succeed in the end.

******

AN

That's it. It's really over with this time. No more epilogues or anything. I'll be taking a few days off from writing to, hopefully, give people time to read and review this. I'd especially like any constructive criticism or suggestions on areas where I could improve. Of course it'd also be helpful to let me know specifics on what parts you enjoyed the most, so I can try to play off my strengths.

This was my first foray into fanfiction and I'd be disappointed if I can't improve my writing significantly with practice. So for those who did enjoy it, hopefully I'll have something even better for you next time. I have no intention of disappearing after this one story.


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